


The Adlers

by theinvisiblekunst



Category: Red Dead Redemption (Video Games)
Genre: F/F, Jack Has Two Moms, Post-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-29
Updated: 2020-05-29
Packaged: 2021-03-02 23:42:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,995
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24435307
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/theinvisiblekunst/pseuds/theinvisiblekunst
Summary: Sadie looks back on the last 20 years of her life and how happy she is now.
Relationships: Sadie Adler/Abigail Roberts Marston
Comments: 2
Kudos: 32





	The Adlers

**Author's Note:**

> Ah, my first posted Sadigail fic.
> 
> So I have a headcanon as to why Abigail was "dead" so soon after John, which I of course put in this story. Oh, and I'm just gonna say it now: Jack isn't going to die.

**_May 1919_ **

The cool breeze blew in the window as Sadie woke up. The warm body beside her was still sleeping, her head on Sadie's shoulder, and Sadie smiled, wrapping her arm around her as she kissed the top of her head. They were both naked, their legs intertwined under the sheet.

Twenty years ago, she lost the love of her life, her best friend, her husband. She was consumed with anger and vengeance against the O'Driscolls. The Van der Linde gang had taken her in, and she had grown close to Arthur, the second best man she knew after Jake. Arthur was more like a brother to her, and she still missed him, even now. She had also grown close to Abigail. Had she been in a better place mentally and not still mourning Jake, Sadie knew she would have had fallen for her. Yet, she knew Abigail had to be with John, especially for Jack's sake. She, along with Arthur, made sure of that.

When she ran into John again, eight years after that, a part of her knew she was turning him into an Arthur-replacement. He and Arthur were alike in many ways, and she admired how John was truly trying to change his life. She also wanted to make sure Abigail would return to him and live the life Sadie knew she deserved, a life she couldn't give her. After they killed Micah, John and Abigail married, and Sadie felt now that the Marstons were safe, she could leave.

Four years passed. She lived all around South America for about three years and then moved to Mexico, continuing her bounty hunting. It was when she received a letter from Abigail did she return to the United States. The feds were holding Jack and Abigail while they forced John to bring down Bill, Javier, and Dutch. By the time Sadie returned it was too late. John had been killed. She was the one to find his body, and just as she was about to ready him for burial, Abigail and Jack had returned.

Seeing Abigail again made her heart flutter. They didn't hesitate to run to one another, and Sadie lifted her up, spinning her around some. They were both quiet for a moment, the two just holding one another until Abigail started to cry.

"I need you, Sadie Adler. Please don't leave me, too," she had said. "Please stay."

"I ain't ever leavin' you, Abigail," she told her. "I ain't going anywhere."

Jack gave her a tight hug, too, and she let him cry on her shoulder. When they were calm, the three set to work burying Uncle and John. Sadie then went to work cleaning John's blood off the ground and barn, and she repaired what had been shot through.

She stayed at Beecher's Hope, it becoming her new home, the first real home she had in years. As the months went on, Abigail continued to mourn John, and Sadie comforted her, knowing the exact pain she was feeling. One night, the romantic and sexual tension that had been between them for so long finally broke. They made love for the first time. It just felt so right and so natural, they knew they were meant to be. They'd always love Jake and John, but they had one another now. Sadie knew Jake and John would want them to be happy.

Jack was happy for them, to their surprise. He knew his mother was happy again, and that's all he wanted. He also loved Sadie to the point she became a second mother. He even started to call her "Ma." While Abigail took care of the house, Sadie and Jack did the ranching work. They'd clean the barn, feed the cattle, make deliveries, repair fences, whatever needed to be done. The next two years were wonderful. The Marston-Adler family was happy and living in peace. Sadie never thought she'd have such a calm, simple life again, but here she was, living and working on a ranch with her new love and their son. However, their serene life was short lived. It was when she and Jack were on a delivery in Blackwater, they approached by two federal agents.

Jack furrowed his brows. "Agent Ross."

Ross smiled at him as the other agent stood behind him, rifle in hand. "Jack Marston. May I have a word with you, son?"

Sadie clenched her jaw and stepped between them. "He _ain't_ your son, and anything you gotta say to my boy, you can say to me."

"Sadie Adler," Ross said with a nod. "Lost your husband, Jake Adler, in 1899 to the O'Driscoll gang, and then you took up with Van der Linde's gang, robbing and killing alongside them. I understand you're living with Marston's widow now?"

Sadie kept her eyes on him as she reached back for Jack's hand. "C'mon, Jack. Let's go home."

They turned to walk back to their wagon, and Ross said, "Please inform Mrs. Marston we'll be coming for her next. We got some _questions_ for her."

Sadie put her hand on Jack's back to get him to walk faster. They hurried back to Beecher's Hope to find Abigail hanging laundry outside, and without a word, Sadie grabbed her arm and pulled her inside.

"Sadie, what the hell?"

Jack held up his hands as he followed them inside. "Something's happened, Momma."

The three sat down at the table as they told her about their run-in with Ross. Sadie heaved a sigh. "I think it's best we left."

Abigail shook her head. "No. I ain't leavin' my home again. If they want me, they'll have to fight to get me."

"Momma, listen," Jack said. "Ma's right; you two have to leave. I'm eighteen. I can take care of the ranch myself. I know what to do, and Miss MacFarlane could always help me if I need it."

"I ain't leavin' you behind!" Abigail snapped at him.

He took her hand. "I'll be fine. They don't want me. I'm just a kid to them, never an active member of the gang, but you and maybe even Ma are next. Please go. We can keep in contact."

Sadie sighed. "Except they'll keep huntin' her." Then an idea hit her. "Unless they think she's dead."

Jack knew exactly what she was thinking. "Yes! That could work!"

Abigail shook her head. "What the hell you two talkin' about?"

Jack looked at her. "We fake your death."

Abigail's eyes widened. "Fake my death? I don't know..."

Sadie reached across the table and took her hand. "You know it ain't safe here no more. Those feds know where you live, and they'll keep coming after Abigail Marston."

Jack nodded. "But they won't be coming after Abigail Adler."

Sadie gave her hand a squeeze. "I couldn't protect my Jake, but I sure as shit can protect you, Abbie."

Abigail brought her hand to her lips, giving her calloused fingers a kiss. "I just don't know. Leavin' Jack...I--"

"It's all right, Momma," Jack said. "I'm not a child. We can make it work. Just be sure to send me a letter when you find somewhere safe."

Sadie nodded. "The letters will be from your 'aunt' Caroline Kilgore."

Jack nodded back. "Of course."

Abigail was quiet for a moment, and she kissed Sadie's hand again. "'Abigail Adler,' huh?" She grinned. "Well, I don't hate the sound of that."

So it was decided. Sadie went out and bribed the local undertaker to get the body of a young woman no one had claimed. She would have gotten a burial with nothing, after all. She and Jack buried the body beside John and Uncle, and they made a headstone, declaring Abigail Marston was dead. Abigail Adler, however, was very much alive.

They said their byes to Jack, and the two women left on a wagon under the cover of darkness. They knew right away they'd just leave the country, so they went north to Canada. They eventually settled in Red Deer, Alberta. Sadie bought a two-bedroom bungalow, which already had indoor plumbing and electricity, and it also had a cellar. Abigail loved it. It was simple but modern and beautiful. They decided to make their union official by exchanging vows and rings, just the two of them, a new start to the their new life. They kept their rings from Jake and John in a jewelry box on their dresser. Sadie made their money with bounty hunting and animal hunting. Abigail found work as a seamstress in town to give her something to do when Sadie was out working and to add to their income.

They wrote to Jack often. Jack would write back to his "aunt Caroline," letting her know that Beecher's Hope was fine, and he was able to hire a couple of people to help him. The federal agents had come by, too, he wrote, and after he told them his mother was dead, they left. He hadn't heard from or seen them since, but he had a feeling they were still watching Beecher's Hope. A part of Sadie had the feeling Jack wasn't being entirely truthful, but she didn't say anything to Abigail.

One day they received a letter in the mail from a "Leslie Dupont," which they knew was Mary-Beth's pen name. Mary-Beth wrote them a nice note, letting them know when she had been in West Elizabeth last, she saw Jack, who told her what was going on. He had given her their address, so she wrote to them and asked if she could use an idea she had in mind for a while for her next book. She had told them her idea, and after discussing it with each other, Sadie and Abigail gave her their okay, especially since it was going to be a fiction. That Christmas, Mary-Beth sent them a copy of her newest book, _Love On the Run_.

It was about a tough gunslinging widow named Sara Adams, who roams New Austin in hopes of tracking down the gang that killed her husband, Jesse. During a shoot out with the outlaws, a rival gang comes in and helps her take them out. Not wanting to travel alone anymore, Sara joins them, quickly becoming one of their top enforcers alongside old guard members, Albert and Johnnie. She gets to know another member of the gang, Annie Ralston, single mother to a six year old boy named James, and the two eventually fall in love. Johnnie is James's father, but it took a while for him to accept the boy. There's a fallout in the gang as the government comes closer to catching them, so with help from Albert and Johnnie, who sacrifice themselves, she escapes with Annie and James. The three are hunted by both the government and some members of their old gang, so they catch a ship to England, where they live happily ever after as they raise James.

Sadie read it to Abigail cover to cover when they got it, and they both loved it. It was clear Mary-Beth took inspiration from them and the Van der Linde gang, but she wrote it in a way that felt original and like they weren't reading about themselves. Sara and Annie were similar to Sadie and Abigail, but they were so wonderfully written Sadie and Abigail didn't see themselves so much anymore. Of course in this story Annie and Johnnie never got together, but Mary-Beth wrote their relationship in such a way that it was clear it was best for James they not be together. Yet, Johnnie was shown to care a lot about Annie, and he loved James. Both cried at Albert and Johnnie sacrificing themselves so Sara, Annie, and James could get away, and there were many moments throughout the story that made them laugh. Sadie wrote to Mary-Beth, letting her know how much they loved the book, and when she wrote back, she told them it had become her highest selling novel. She was considering a sequel.

It had been a harsh winter, but the snows melted as spring blossomed. Then, that summer, Jack appeared on their doorstep, Sadie's suspicions about Beecher's Hope being confirmed. He looked older than nineteen. His hair was long, his face scruffy, and he was wearing John's hat. She expected him to look more and more like John, but she couldn't see it. Except she recognized the look in his eyes, looks Arthur and John would have after they had to kill someone, and one she was sure she had many times.

"Hey, Momma, Ma," he said.

Abigail pulled him inside and gave him a tight hug. "Oh, Jackie! I've missed you so much!" She held him out at arms length. "What are you doing here, son?"

Jack put his bag down, took off his hat, and sighed as he sat down at the dining table. "I sold Beecher's Hope. It-- it wasn't doing so great."

The two sat down with him, and Sadie patted his shoulder. "Why didn't you tell us?"

"I didn't need the two of you to worry," he said, looking down. She could see the little Jack she remembered so fondly, the expression on his face being the same he'd get as a child when he did something wrong and knew it. "I didn't want y'all running back to West Elizabeth and getting killed." He sighed. "There's...there's more. Edgar Ross."

Abigail and Sadie looked at one another before looking back at him. "What about him?" Abigail asked.

"He's dead."

Sadie let out a heavy sigh. "You came up here because you killed him, didn't you?"

Jack shot her a look. "You killed O'Driscolls for killing your husband!" he snapped. "I was avenging my pa!"

Sadie took his hand. "Jack, I'm not judging you for that. Yes, I was full of rage and blood lust. I wanted every O'Driscoll dead for what they did to my Jake, and I don't regret it. But they were outlaws. Ross was a federal agent."

Jack then shot a look at Abigail. "Pa said you killed that Agent Milton that was chasin' us when I was little."

Abigail clenched her jaw. "He took me captive and threatened your ma and uncle Arthur. _Of course_ I shot him before he could kill them! But I was already an outlaw! You're just a boy with whole life ahead of him, and you go and do _this?_ You're no better than your pa!"

"He and Ma went after Micah--"

Abigail cut him off, "And it got your pa killed!" She got up and paced around, shaking her head. "I didn't want this life for you, Jack. You were supposed to be better than me and your pa! You weren't supposed to live the outlaw life!" She sighed and sat back down. "Jackie, I love you so much, okay? You're my son. I wanted only the best for you."

Jack looked down, a tear rolling down his cheek. "I know, Momma, but I wasn't going to live in peace knowing that Ross was still alive. I did what I felt was right."

Abigail got up and wrapped her arms around him. "We've all done what we felt we had to, but this makes you a wanted man."

"No one knows who killed him," he said when she let go of him. "But I dropped 'Jack Marston' when I left, knowing they'd suspect me. I'm 'Jack Adler' now. As much as I miss and love Pa, I know being a Marston would only draw more attention towards me."

Sadie got up and gestured for him to as well. "Jack, why don't you go get yourself a hot bath and rest in the second bedroom. I'll fix something up for you to eat."

He nodded. "All right, Ma. Thanks."

She kissed his cheek, and he picked up his bag and hat, going into the bathroom. Abigail let out a sob and went over to Sadie. "I can't believe that boy would be so stupid. He was supposed to break this cycle!"

Sadie wrapped her arms around her. "I know, I know. But he's safe here, for now. Jack Adler will live an honest life, I'll make sure of it."

Abigail gave her kiss. "I love you, Sadie. I don't know what I'd do without you."

"I love you, too, Abigail. I know I'd still be living a lonely transitory life if I didn't have you."

They kissed and held one another for a moment before Sadie went to work cooking a hot meal for the family. Jack cut his hair short and shaved his face as not to fit any descriptions of the man who murdered Edgar Ross, and he went to work collecting bounties with Sadie. They made a great team, and Abigail hoped this honest gunslinging work would get the outlaw business out of Jack's system. She hated they were doing dangerous work, but she knew what a skilled hunter Sadie was, not to mention how tough she was too (considering how many times she had been shot and stabbed and still got up).

Days were spent working, evenings were spent having dinner and listening to the phonograph as Sadie read to Abigail and Jack read his books, and for Abigail and Sadie, nights were spent taking hot baths together before going to sleep in one another's arms, both finally feeling relaxed and content.

But then Jack came to them with news: He had volunteered for the Canadian Expeditionary Force. Sadie and Abigail were both proud and nervous. Why would he want to get involved with a European war? Just because they lived in a British dominion didn't mean he had to fight for them. Yet, Jack wanted this redemption. He left with the rest of the soldiers in September for Britain. He wrote to them in October while he trained in Britain, sending them a photo of him in his uniform.

Sadie and Abigail put the portrait of Jack in his uniform on the middle of the mantle place, right next to their couple portrait outside their new home and the picture of young John and young Arthur with Hosea and Dutch that was among Arthur's things John had saved. As much as they hated Dutch now, they missed and loved the other three.

Jack wrote to them often as he continued his training in Salisbury Plain, and it was in July when they received the news he was shipping out to France. Abigail was hopeful for more letters every day, and when one did come in, Sadie was more than happy to read it to her. They sat down on the couch, Sadie putting one arm around Abigail as she rested her head on Sadie's shoulder.

Sadie cleared her throat. "'Dear Momma and Ma. We've finally left Britain and all that training and have made our way to France. Now, as I sit here in the trenches, I long to be back in Britain. Fortunately, there hasn't been much in gunfire for the last couple of days. There will be the artillery fire, but the trench I'm in is relatively quiet, at least according to the boys who've been here a while. At night, I'll wake from the sound of a machine gun in the distance or perhaps something exploding above us. Whenever there is gunfire, it's most often at night. I'll hear German explosives, but they're a few hundred yards away. Neither side wants to advance. No one wants to die in the stretch of land already covered with bodies of boys foolish enough to try. Me and some of the other newer men are friendly to each other, but the guys who've been here are distant. I suppose it's because they've lost so many friends already. No one wants to lose more. But I'm enjoying the company while I can.

"'I can't remember ever having friends like this, other young men about my age. In what down time we get, we play cards-- thanks to Pa and Uncle teaching me, I've won my share of games-- smoke our cigarettes, and talk of home, our families, or girls, if any of them got one. One fella's got three brothers serving, too, but two are still training in Canada. I miss you two so much, and I also miss Ma's cooking-- no offense, Momma. I keep Pa's hat with me. One fella took it from me as a 'joke,' but after I punched him and mentioned my pa was dead, he left me alone. No one else has dared try taking it again. I keep the photo Uncle Arthur had of the old gang, you two and Pa also in it, and I look at it before I attempt to sleep. During the day, I keep it in my pocket to keep y'all close. I love you two very much. Your son, Jack.'"

Abigail wiped her eyes and sniffled. "Oh, that boy. That stupid, stubborn boy. Just like his pa, I swear."

Sadie put the letter down. "At least he doesn't seem to be in the thick of it."

As the war went on, Jack wrote to them about everything, and they would write back to him each time. Letters from when he was on leave were best letters to them; it meant Jack was safe for the time being and getting the rest he needed. Then in 1917, he wrote to them to let them know he was training to become a pilot.

"A pilot? _A pilot?_ " Abigail screeched as Sadie read his latest letter. "That boy is gonna get himself killed, getting into one of those damn contraptions!"

Sadie shook her head. "It's the twentieth century, Abbie. I don't think 'those damn contraptions' will be going away anytime soon."

She shook her head. "I just can't believe he's gonna _fly_. Those things get shot down! What if he gets shot down and taken by them Germans?"

"We can't be thinkin' the worst," Sadie said. "C'mon, I'll draw you a hot bath, and you can relax, get your mind off Jack for a moment. The boy is strong and smart. We both know he'll be okay."

Miraculously, Jack made it through the war alive, and he came out as a flying ace, seven planes shot down under his belt. He did get injured days before the Armistice, but he would live. While healing in a French hospital, he met an English nurse named Margaret. He wrote to Abigail and Sadie, telling them he might remain in Europe a while. He came back to Canada in early December to introduce his mothers to Margaret. Sadie and Abigail loved her, and when Jack went back to England with her, Abigail felt relieved, knowing there was no way he could fall back into that outlaw life he would have in America.

Now, it was nearing the end of the spring, and Sadie was holding her wife tight against her in bed. They were no longer being hunted, the war was over, and Jack was healthy and happy with a nice girl.

"You awake?"

Sadie smiled at Abigail's raspy morning voice. "Yep."

Abigail opened her eyes and looked up at her. "I know I ask this all the time, but is this a dream? Am I gonna wake up, and I'm sleepin' on the ground in Horseshoe Overlook or Clemens Point?"

Sadie smiled and shook her head as she cupped Abigail's face. "And I say this every time: Ain't a dream. We're really here, Abbie. We're happy, we have a beautiful home and peaceful life, and our boy is safe and sound."

Abigail pulled her close for a kiss. "If the rest of my days are spent like this, then I'll be all right."

Sadie smiled and kissed her back. "Me too. So, Mrs. Adler...what d'you say to us just staying in bed all day?"

Abigail grinned. "I'd say you read my mind, Mrs. Adler."


End file.
